Alan F. Schatzberg received his M.D. from New York University in 1968. He did his psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center from 1969-1972 and was Chief Resident, Southard Clinic in 1971-1972. He was also a Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

After serving in the United States Air Force, he joined the staff at McLean Hospital and the faculty of Harvard Medical School in 1974. At McLean Hospital, he held a number of important positions including Service Chief, Interim Psychiatrist in Chief, Co-Director of the Affective Disorders Program (with Dr. J. Cole) and Director of the Depression Research Facility. In 1988, he became Clinical Director of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School but continued at McLean Hospital with his research program on the biology and treatment of depression. In 1991, Dr. Schatzberg moved to Stanford University to become the Kenneth T. Norris, Jr., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He served as Chair of the Department there until 2010 and now directs the Stanford Mood Disorders Center.

Dr. Schatzberg has been an active investigator in the biology and psychopharmacology of depressive disorders, exploring: norepinephrine systems in depression as a means of subtyping these disorders; the biological mechanisms that underlie the development of delusions in major depression and innovative therapeutic strategies; and the clinical psychopharmacology of nondelusional depression with a particular interest in chronic depression and pharmocogenetics. He has authored over 700 publications and abstracts, including the Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology, whose eighth edition appeared in 2015 and which is co-authored by Dr. Charles DeBattista. He also co-edited with Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff the Textbook of Psychopharmacology whose fourth edition appeared in 2009. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Psychiatric Research and sits on many other editorial boards as well, including Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Biological Psychiatry, and others. He is a Past President of the American Psychiatric Association, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the Society of Biological Psychiatry and was also the Secretary-General of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology. He has received numerous awards, including; the 1998 Gerald L. Klerman, MD Lifetime Research Award from the NDMDA, the 2001 Gerald L. Klerman, MD Award from Cornell University Medical College, the 2001 Edward A. Strecker, MD Award from the University of Pennsylvania, the 2002 Mood Disorders Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists, the 2002 American Psychiatric Association Award for Research, the 2005 Distinguished Service in Psychiatry Award from the American College of Psychiatrists, the 2005 Falcone Award from NARSAD, the 2013 Anna Monika Award, the 2014 Kraeplin Gold Medal from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, the 2015 Gold Medal from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, etc. In 2003, he was elected into the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (2008), the Medical University of Vienna (2011), and the Maimonides Unviversity, Buenos Aires (2013).

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